


Unaccustomed Vanity

by Passions



Series: Tarnished Hearts [9]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-18
Updated: 2013-07-18
Packaged: 2017-12-20 13:25:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passions/pseuds/Passions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's New Year's and Belle feels ugly. Gold does what he can to make it better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unaccustomed Vanity

Mary Margaret had stopped by earlier in the day to invite the three of them to the New Year’s Eve party she was hosting; Kathryn had been excited to go, but Belle wasn’t interested. Gold had been torn. He didn’t want to leave Kathryn without his help at the party, but neither did he want to leave Belle unattended at home alone. And he didn’t want to make one of them change their decision.

But Kathryn insisted that she would be fine at the party and Mary Margaret had assured him that they would all keep an eye on her and call him if she needed anything. He had been hesitant, but he didn’t want her to feel confined to the house and he absolutely refused to leave Belle alone.

Kathryn had left barely an hour ago after Belle had helped her choose an outfit. He had called up to Belle that dinner was ready nearly ten minutes ago and she hadn’t come down, so he made his way up the stairs. He looked into her room and into her bathroom in case she was ill, but didn’t find her.

He found her in Kathryn’s room, sitting on the bed and staring at the other woman’s closet.

"Belle?" he started forward quietly. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?"

He came to sit by her on the bed and she leaned into his side and sighed.

"I’m not pretty."

He startled. “What are you talking about?"

She shrugged. “I suppose I’m not terrible," she placed her hand on the swell of her stomach and his heart lurched pleasantly, “But I’m not even five months along and already I’m bloated and puffy. I’m too short, the extra weight doesn’t sit as well on me as it does on Kathryn." She sighed deeply. “Kathryn is so lovely."

Gold turned to face her, frowning. “Is that why you didn’t want to go to the party tonight?"

Belle shrugged. “I wasn’t feeling very upbeat."

Gold shook his head and placed his hand gently on her cheek. “You are beautiful, Belle." His breath stuttered out for a moment before he regained it. “You are the single most beautiful person I’ve ever met."

She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Please, just - You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever met, inside and out. And you being pregnant does not change that." 

The pregnancy did, in fact, change how beautiful she was - to him, at any rate. Watching her grow heavy with child, with his child, did things to him he couldn’t even begin to explain. He didn’t let himself examine the feelings too often because every time he did he had to acknowledge how different his feelings for Belle were from his feelings for Kathryn.

He could still appreciate Kathryn’s beauty, and he could see the happiness that pregnancy brought her. But that was nothing to the beauty that radiated from the woman carrying his child. Belle was nurturing a part of him inside of her, a child that was his and hers, and he couldn’t fathom how that could make her anything less than perfect.

But he had no idea how to explain that to her without having to further explain his complicated and growing feelings for her. And so he struggled, because he needed her to know that she was exquisite.

"Belle." He took a breath. “If being pregnant changes you in any way, it can only possibly make you more beautiful. You - you are creating a life in you. Belle, that’s a miracle." He shook his head. “How can that not be beautiful."

He raised his eyes from where they had dropped to stare at his fiddling hands to hers and his stomach plummeted when he saw the tears coursing down her face. He hadn’t meant to upset her.

As he made to apologize though, she sobbed and threw herself at him, clutching at his shoulders as his arms wrapped tightly around her back.

"Thank you," she whispered against his neck. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and just held her.

Eventually he led her down to the living room and put the tv on, turning to the countdown in Time’s Square, though midnight was still a couple of hours away. When he asked Belle what would help her feel better, she decided she needed to make a chocolate cake. So they spent the next hour and a half baking, icing, and decorating a cake, each bringing a slice with them back to the living room to watch the ball drop.

When Belle had finished her cake and placed her plate next to his on the coffee table she turned and curled her right leg under her so she could face him, leaning her side against the back of the couch. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach and his heart fluttered.

"I’m not vain, usually," she said quietly. “I’m not really sure why my looks were getting to me tonight. But all that you said. Did you really mean it?"

"Every word," he said hoarsely, his throat too choked up with an emotion he didn’t dare name to be clear.

She leaned forward suddenly and caught his lips in hers; his hand tightening spasmodically under hers, against her belly. He didn’t even register the celebratory cheers coming from the tv as the ball dropped in Times Square and a new year began, his attention completely and totally and happily taken over by Belle.


End file.
